02/20/2007

Craig Fisher's second solo exhibition at Rokeby, Hold Your Fire, is an ambitious installation that develops previous concerns. On the ground floor of the gallery Fisher presents what appears to be a weapons amnesty. Numerous weapons of varying sizes are carefully and formally laid out as if for inspection. And inspect you might, because each piece of military hardware is in fact meticulously crafted from utilitarian materials and fabrics embellished with ribbons and buttons.

International design writer, author and curator Max Fraser stopped by to our humble home this week, in search of inspiration he's traveling the globe after recently completing his monograph on Piet Hein Eek, for De Boekenmakers in Holland.

Rolf Sachs study in 2004 of the Austrian mountain view from Rechenau in Bavaria, is a familiar format, the taking of repetitive images of a single view over a long period of time, this time lapse effect often seems no more than a jarring portrait of personal obsessions. Sachs however brings a poetry in his selection of those images, some 50,000 were taken over the year.

02/16/2007

Ju$t Another Rich Kid and Tobias Wong’s tautology in indulgent consumption came under attack this week as CITIZEN:Citizen received a cease and desist order from McDonalds Corporation. Cokespoon #2, a bronze cast and gold plated version of a 1980’s coffee stirrer, will be be withdrawn from CITIZEN:Citizen’s collection immediately.

Another deletion of another version.The original plastic coffee stirrer was taken out of production when the fast food conglomerate discovered it was being used for drug purposes in the 1980’s. McDonald's became uncomfortable with the affiliation when the coffee stirrers were constantly being used as Exhibit A's in drug cases.

Cokespoon #2 is parody and commentary on how culture affects and sometimes dictates an objects status and function. It is a luxury, made to order design object by thefashion designer Ken Courtney (Ju$t Another Rich Kid) whose collaboration with the renowned designer Tobias Wong resulted in the Indulgences range.

CITIZEN:Citizen works at the forefront of art and design, constantly questioning notions of ownership and value within some of the most beautiful and provocative objects, challenging our accepted views of these worlds.

“it is unfortunate, but ultimately shows the inherent power of objects and their multiple meanings… I would think that as a collectors item it’ has just become an even greater prize, I would imagine the rest of the [Indulgence] range is also going to go up in value” said Philip Wood, Director of CITIZEN:Citizen

For more information about CITIZEN:Citizen or this matter, please check our website, citizen-citizen.com, or please call us at 415-695-7748 or email info@citizen-citizen.com

02/15/2007

If I could be in London I would be right now, and I'd want to see what these two have done in the public place that is The Tate. Heroes and Heroins from another decade, becoming such a part of the establishment they critique. Viviene Westwood comes to mind.

02/14/2007

According to one legend, Valentine sent the first valentines greeting to himself, this celebration in the middle of February is to celebrate the anniversary of his death.With this in mind, may we suggest indulging in your own Petite Mort on this day. Traditional notions of flowers, perfume, candlelit dinners or intimate gifts are all within the vocabulary of CITIZEN:Citizen.